The Lieutenant and the ADA
by barbaXbenson
Summary: Entries for the Barson Daily's weekly drabble prompts plus maybe a few more if the mood strikes.
1. The Belt

The Barson Daily's Weekly Drabble Prompt: _Demand_

My first attempt at a drabble, so I figured I'd start at the beginning.

* * *

"You looped the belt like this."

Olivia watched in amused disbelief as the new ADA wrapped his own belt around his neck in the middle of the courtroom. In the hundreds of hours she'd spent watching trials she'd never seen anything like it.

"Come on, show me how you like it!" Barba was demanding of Cain.

Olivia jumped to her feet, ready to rush to his aid as Cain pulled the belt tight around Barba's neck, but it was over just as quickly as it had begun and she sat back down. She shared a glance with Rollins, who's look of shock and amusement mirrored her own.

Who was this guy?

Once closing arguments were completed and the jury had been sent off to deliberate, Olivia leaned against the wall outside the courtroom, waiting while Jocelyn splashed some water on her face and composed herself.

She caught sight of Barba out of the corner of her eye. "That was...interesting, counselor." She said as he strolled by her.

Her words stopped him mid stride and he turned to her, cocky grin on his face. "It worked didn't it?"

"It wasn't the first time was it?"

"What do you mean?"

"That's not the first time you've had a belt around your neck."

His jaw dropped before he could stop it. "Excuse me?"

She shrugged like it was nothing. "To my trained eye, you looked a little practiced. That's all."

His eyes narrowed, intrigued. "Trained eye?"

"Fifteen years working sex crimes you pick up on things." She spotted Jocelyn coming out of the ladies room and pushed herself off the wall. "Later, counselor."

Rafael watched her walk away, still frozen in place by her brazen words. Yes, things certainly were going to be interesting here in Manhattan.


	2. The Thief

The Barson Daily's Weekly Drabble Prompt: Hostile

* * *

"I'll ask you one more time, what did you do next?"

Silence.

Rafael had faced down the toughest of opponents in the courtroom, but he was starting to think he'd met his match. The guy was good.

"Permission to treat the witness as hostile?"

Olivia laughed. "Granted."

"Alright, amigo." Rafael pulled Noah onto his lap, tickling him mercilessly, causing Noah to dissolve into a fit of giggles. "Where'd you put my phone?"

"Not...telling." Noah answered between gasps for breath.

Rafael fell back against the couch cushions. "Okay, you win."

"Does that mean you'll stay?" Noah's eyes brightened.

"I wish, but I have to go."

Noah eyed Rafael's suitcase by the door and tears welled up in his eyes.

"Oh, hey, don't cry." Rafael hugged Noah against him. "It's only a few days."

"Mommy, no!" Noah lunged off of Rafael's lap to stop Olivia, who had been searching for the phone while Rafael performed his cross examination, from pulling open the lid to his toy box. Apparently she'd found his hiding spot.

She found Rafael's phone near the bottom, nestled between the pages of an old book.

"Ah, thanks." He stood to retrieve the phone but she held it behind her back. "Liv, come on."

"If I hide it again, does that mean you'll stay?" She pouted, outdoing even Noah's best work.

"That's not fair." He kissed her deeply, a sneaking hand retrieving his phone as he did so.

"Fine." She sighed. "But hurry back to us."

"I will." He promised.

Work had pulled him out of town several times, but now it was different. Now he had this little family that he didn't want to leave, not even for only three days. This time when the door closed behind him, he left his heart on the other side.


	3. The Cigarette

The Barson Daily's Weekly Drabble Prompt: _Habit_

Sorry, this one's a little dark for a drabble, but it's what came to mind.

* * *

Rafael paced in front of the precinct, hands stinging from the bitter cold, his wool Armani overcoat fighting a losing battle against the February chill.

He closed his eyes and welcomed the rush of nicotine to his system as he took his first drag of a cigarette in nearly ten years.

He'd kicked the habit years ago, finally growing tired of his mother and abuelita's constant harassment, but tonight, after what had happened, he needed the nicotine's calming effects to keep him from completely losing it.

"Raf?"

He spun, holding his hand behind his back to face Olivia who stood in the doorway of the precinct. A cloud of smoke billowed from his lips and he hoped she'd think it was just his breath from the cold.

No such luck.

"Are you smoking?"

"Go back inside, you're going to freeze to death." He ignored her question, choosing instead to focus on the fact that she wore only her slacks and sweater.

"Rita's out of surgery."

Flashes of the day's earlier events assaulted him - walking down the courthouse steps with Rita and Olivia, the defendant's brother, the gun, the shot he got off before Olivia took him down.

He hadn't been able to go to the hospital, choosing instead to come give his statement, telling himself it was protocol when he was actually just being a coward.

"She's out of the woods. I'll grab my coat and we can go, okay?" He knew she was waiting on him to crack, to break down. She'd been handling him with kid gloves all night.

"Okay."

When she disappeared back inside he took one more long drag, holding it in until his lungs burned. Letting smoke stream from his nose he tossed the cigarette to the ground, snuffing it out with his leather shoe.


	4. The Kiss

The Barson Daily's Weekly Drabble Prompt: _Caffeine_

* * *

Rafael's fingers drummed on the table top as he checked the time. He still had ten minutes before their designated meeting time. He'd been here for over an hour, excitement and nerves propelling him out of bed before the sun had come up.

He sipped his coffee, his second that he'd ordered here in addition to the two he'd had at home. He felt the pleasant buzz of caffeine as it worked its way through his veins.

The bell jingled above the door and he looked up hopefully, but it wasn't her. He thought back to the night before in Olivia's office.

He didn't know why he'd done it. He supposed he could blame the stress of the case, the lack of sleep, the way she'd chewed her bottom lip, any of those would do. But he'd just become so overwhelmed by the need to press his lips against hers that he just couldn't fight it.

She'd been shocked at first, but only a millisecond passed before she kissed him back, warm and soft.

When he'd pulled away the weight of what he'd done crashed down on him and he'd mumbled a ridiculous excuse before hightailing it out of there.

He'd been at home mentally berating himself when he'd gotten her text.

 _Coffee tomorrow? We can talk about it._

He didn't know what that meant exactly, but he knew on the other side of this conversation things would be different, their relationship forever changed in one way or another.

This time when he looked up eagerly at sound of the jingling bell, she was there, her eyes roaming over the coffee shop in search of him, a smile breaking out across her face when she spotted him. A familiar vibration thrummed in his veins, but it wasn't from the caffeine.


	5. The Storm

The Barson Daily's Weekly Drabble Prompt: _Sudden_

* * *

A sudden bolt of lightning streaked through the sky before thunder rumbled so loudly that it nearly shook the windows of Olivia's apartment.

"I'm glad you caught Erickson," Rafael shifted his gaze from his laptop to the window where rain began pelting the glass. "I'd hate for you to be out in this tonight."

"You and me both." Olivia agreed before scribbling her signature on Carisi's timesheet.

Again, lightning flashed followed by a boom of thunder even louder than the first.

"Mommy! Daddy!" Noah's frightened cry preceded him down the hallway, tiny feet smacking the hardwood as he ran into the living room.

Olivia stood, scooping him up and holding him tight to her as he buried his face into her neck. "It's okay. It's just a storm. Nothing to be scared of." She rubbed her hand in comforting circles on his back.

Finally, she noticed that Rafael seemed frozen in place, eyes wide.

"Don't tell me the storm has you frightened too?"

"No." He cleared his throat. "No, uh, it's just that he's never called me that before."

Olivia's eyes widened with the realization. "I'm sorry. We can have a talk if it makes you uncomfortable."

"No actually, I kind of like it. I just wasn't sure if you-"

"No, it's fine with me." Olivia was surprised. She'd known that Rafael wasn't the most comfortable with kids before they'd gotten together, but he'd been great with Noah. Still, she didn't think he'd ever be okay with Noah calling him Daddy, at least not this soon.

He smiled. "Then it's settled."

Olivia returned his smile and then kissed the side of Noah's head. "Let's get you back to bed. I'll read you another story."

"Daddy too?" Noah asked into her neck.

She smiled over at Rafael. "Yes, Daddy too."


	6. The Tie

The Barson Daily's Weekly Drabble Prompt: _Gift_

A little pre-Barson fluff

* * *

A light knock sounded against his doorframe and Rafael looked up to find Olivia in the doorway.

"You busy?"

"Yes, but you know I can always spare a moment for you."

She smiled at that, crossing the floor to stop in front of his desk. "Happy Birthday." She held out a small white box.

Rafael very much disliked celebrating his birthday and he'd done a great job of keeping this particular date hidden from his SVU coworkers. At least until now apparently.

Taking the box from her, he fought to ignore the hum of electricity that ran up his arm when their fingers grazed. Something that occurred each time they happened to come into contact with one another.

"You really didn't have to-" His words words were cut off by a laugh, an honest to God laugh, something Olivia wasn't sure she'd ever heard out of him before, as he pulled off the lid.

He held up the tie, still smiling at the gaudy yellow crime scene tape print that ran across the black background. The material was rough and it was possibly the most hideous thing he'd ever seen. And he absolutely loved it because it was from her. "It's perfect."

"I thought it would be great for court." She grinned. "But here's your real gift." She pulled a bottle of his favorite scotch from her bag, a bow tied around the neck.

Rafael's eyes widened, knowing the price of the bottle. "You shouldn't have. The tie was plenty."

She raised a shoulder in a half shrug. "We can drink it together, how about that? Then it's kind of for me too."

"Deal." He ran his fingers over the material of the tie once more before looking up at her through his lashes. "Thank you, Liv. Really."

"Of course." She smiled. "Happy Birthday, Rafael."


	7. The Move

The Barson Daily's Weekly Drabble Prompt: _Reject_

* * *

It was always hard saying goodbye to the things you love the most, Rafael thought, running his hands over the silk. Life was so cruel.

"It's just a tie!" Olivia exclaimed. She'd thought that starting with his ties would ease him into the process of condensing his wardrobe, but he was acting like each strip of fabric was a member of his family.

" _Just_ a tie?" He was beginning to question their entire relationship.

"Look, if you get through this, I'll get you some ice cream." It'd worked with Noah when she'd asked him to choose some toys to part with.

Rafael shot her an unamused look, but he laid the tie on the reject pile. Two ties counted as a pile, right? "Goodbye, old friend."

He wanted to move in with Liv and Noah, he really did, and the apartment they'd found on the Upper West Side was gorgeous and so close to the park, but there was only one closet in the master bedroom. It didn't matter that it was a large walk-in and that it would be plenty of space for most couples, Rafael would have to downsize.

"What about this one?" Olivia plucked a tie from the drawer. "In all the years I've known you, I've never seen you wear it."

"Just do it." He said, turning away dramatically as she placed the tie with the other two he'd managed to part with.

It took a couple of hours, but they got through his entire tie collection, and he'd actually managed to part with quite a few of them.

"That wasn't so bad, right?"

"Yes, it was." Rafael crossed his arms over his chest. "And I want my ice cream."


	8. The Look

The Barson Daily's Weekly Drabble Prompt - Catch Up Week - Prompt: _Brief_

* * *

It had been there, Rafael was sure of it. A look so fleeting that anyone else would have probably missed it, but he was trained to read people and he was well versed on the facial expressions of one Olivia Benson, so of course he caught it. Jealousy.

He hadn't even intended on telling her about his date. She was the daughter of one of his mother's friends and Lucia had been nagging him for months now to meet her. He'd finally caved, fully intent on having a perfectly okay dinner with this woman and never seeing her ever again, having fulfilled his duty to his mother.

For a brief moment he'd considered lying about why he couldn't join Liv for a drink, but he knew she'd be able to tell (she was just as able to read him as he was her) and that would make things even more awkward. So, he'd gone with the truth.

"Oh," Olivia said finally. She forced levity into her voice. "Anyone I know?"

"No. It's not a big deal really. Just another in a long line of Lucia Barba set ups. I'm sure she'll be perfectly pleasant."

"And pleasant is bad?"

"Pleasant is boring. I want someone passionate, someone who stimulates me intellectually, someone who challenges me, don't you?" He stepped closer so that he was at the front of her desk, fingertips resting on the wooden top.

Olivia looked up at him, knowing that he was giving her an opening, but she couldn't bring herself to step through it. There was too much at stake. So instead she said simply, "You never know, she might surprise you."

His face fell for a moment and he took a step back to put a little more space between them. "Yes, she might."


End file.
